Waves: Arena Tactics is now on Kickstarter; £30,000 goal for the top-down shooter sequel

I'm normally immune to the draw of competitive leaderboard chasing. Waves was one of the few that penetrated my usually pacifist shell, leading to a few weeks of intense competition among friends. It was an elegantly designed twin-stick arena shooter, in which increasing your combo gave a temporary bomb power-up that would further increase your combo, thus granting more bombs, thus further increasing your combo, and so on.

Now, one-man outfit Squid In A Box has released a Kickstarter for the sequel, titled Waves: Arena Tactics. Rather than a simple score attack, this time the game will support custom loadouts and procedural levels, giving a sense of progression, exploration and build tailoring to the experience. The Kickstarter campaign is looking to raise £30,000 in 22 days.

The game has already been in development for two years, with much of the game already playable in online or offline modes. Here's what Squid In A Box, aka Robert Hale, has already achieved:

Procedural Arena Generation

Inventory and Equipment System

Modular Weapons, Buffs and Debuffs system

All new AI interface

Online Multiplayer Integrated with Steamworks

Ten Unique Weapons

Five Super Weapons

Eight Support Items

Ten Single Player Arenas

Eight Enemies

And the hoped for £30,000? Here's what it will help to achieve:

Soundtrack by Robert Stjärnström of Machinae Supremacy

Five Singleplayer Game Modes

Five Competitive multiplayer Game Modes

Two Co-Operative mulitplayer Game Modes

Seven New Enemies

Dozens of Upgrades

New GUI

New Arena and Enemy Art

Multiplayer Arenas

Testing and Balancing and Testing and Balancing

As always with Kickstarter, there are a list of potential backer rewards, with game access costing £10, and beta access available for £35.